


Countdown

by CMHolden



Series: Riftdale - Line One [7]
Category: Benjaminutes - Fandom, The Riftdale Chronicles (Web Series)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 12:10:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16241348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CMHolden/pseuds/CMHolden





	Countdown

**5**

“Look how much you’ve grown!”

“I’d be concerned if he shrunk, love.”

“Oh, shoosh!”

A small baby sat on his mother’s lap. He became more and more interested in her necklace, reaching out to touch it.

“Careful honey!” The woman said, giving him a book instead.

A small family sits together, happy and content.

**4**

“I’m worried about what they’re going to do one they get control,” says the father

“Let's not talk about that right now,” says the mother, bouncing her boy on her hip. She places soup out for their guests. The boy understands nothing, but is intrigued by the new people. His mother puts him down so he may roam the small house. He brings the guests toys. Most ignore him. One takes the small teddy and pats his hair. He gives a wide grin, wandering off. He does not see his parents worried faces. They never let him see.

**3**

Gunshots. Loud noises that frighten a small boy awake. His mother brings him a bag, takes his hand and tells him to run. Where is father? He’s busy on the fancy radio. The boy must never play with it. The boy calls out to his father. He quickly hugs the boy, giving him his beanie. He tells him to stay safe. He does not follow when the mother takes the boy down to the basement. She opens the cupboard and pulls out the back. She tells him to follow the path behind it and not to look back. They will come for him later. The boy asks what’s happening, but the mother kisses his forehead and tells him she loves him. He loves her too. He tells her. She gives him her coat, telling him to run.

 

He does what he is told.

 

**2**

His parents did not come for him that night. They did not come that week. At the end of the path was a bunker. It had plenty of food. The boy stayed as long as he could. His left early one morning, following the path back to his house. Sunlight streamed through the hole in the floor above the basement. The stairs barely held his weight. His life as he had previously known was burnt around him. He called for his parents. They did not respond. He sat in the wreckage, confused and alone.

 

A woman found him. She had a kind smile and warm hands. She said that people had been looking for him. She took him to see a man in a blue uniform. The man pointed to a picture of the boy on the wall. It said he was missing. He asked for his parents. The man in blue said they had gone to a better place. The boy asked for directions. The man in blue looked sad. The woman looked sad. Did they not know the directions?

 

The man in blue calls a woman who wore a lot of makeup to come and take the boy. He takes him to a house of too many children. They ask what happened to his parents. He says they’re someplace better. Some children understand. Some do not. They say they are sorry. The boy asks for directions. A boy explains what the better place means.

 

The boy doesn’t understand.

 

He leaves the orphanage to walk home. The woman with too much makeup says he lived there now.

“But my parents will be looking for me.”

The woman sighs and leads him back. She does that every time he leaves after that too.

**1**

A teenager hides in an old barn. He had been relying on himself as soon as he ran away from the orphanage. His parents would be looking for him. The coat didn’t fit anymore. The beanie had more patches than original fabric. He hides the beanie in his bag for safe keeping. His parents would want them back.

His parents would be looking for him. They’d want their things back.

 

**0**

“Claire, you have to accept it sooner or later.”

“They’re just hiding, Dad. That’s all!”

“Kiddo, I’ve been to every funeral. I’m sorry, you’re not going to find them.”

“They might have died here, but they didn’t die in my reality.”

“…Claire, I’m sorry.”

“I just need to get back there. I just need you to take me home.”

“They won’t be there, son.”

“I’ll find them! I know I can!”

“Clairvoyance… please. They wouldn’t want you to waste your life after they left.”

“Y-you’re lying.”

“I’m sorry… I wish I wasn’t.”

The boy is now a man. He refuses to accept the truth. A man called Dad accepts his anger. Fist pummel against his chest. He holds him close. He still won’t accept the truth. The boy sobs softly into the man called Dad’s arms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**…**

“Did he believe you?”

“No.”

“… He can’t keep searching for us.”


End file.
